Search results for "Natural language"
showing 10 items of 650 documents
Rhythmic and textural musical sequences differently influence syntax and semantic processing in children.
2020
International audience; Effects of music on language processing have been reported separately for syntax and for semantics. Previous studies have shown that regular musical rhythms can facilitate syntax processing and that semantic features of musical excerpts can inZluence semantic processing of words. It remains unclear whether musical parameters, such as rhythm and sound texture, may speciZically inZluence different components of linguistic processing. In the current study, two types of musical sequences (one focusing on rhythm and the other focusing on sound texture) were presented to children who were requested to perform a syntax or a semantic task thereafter. The results revealed tha…
Do handwritten words magnify lexical effects in visual word recognition?
2016
Published online: 27 Oct 2015 An examination of how the word recognition system is able to process handwritten words is fundamental to formulate a comprehensive model of visual word recognition. Previous research has revealed that the magnitude of lexical effects (e.g., the word-frequency effect) is greater with handwritten words than with printed words. In the present lexical decision experiments, we examined whether the quality of handwritten words moderates the recruitment of top-down feedback, as reflected in word-frequency effects. Results showed a reading cost for difficult-to-read and easy-to-read handwritten words relative to printed words. But the critical finding was that difficul…
Is VIRTU4L larger than VIR7UAL? Automatic processing of number quantity and lexical representations in leet words.
2015
Recent research has shown that leet words (i.e., words in which some of the letters are replaced by visually similar digits; e.g., VIRTU4L) can be processed as their base words without much cost. However, it remains unclear whether the digits inserted in leet words are simply processed as letters or whether they are simultaneously processed as numbers (i.e., in terms of access to their quantity representation). To address this question, we conducted two experiments that examined the size congruity effect (i.e., when comparisons of the physical size of numbers are affected by their numerical magnitudes) in a physical-size judgment task. Participants were presented with pairs of leet words th…
Cross-cultural validation of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale in four forms and eight languages
2019
International audience; The 14-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) is one of the most frequently internationally adapted psychometric instruments developed to assess generalized problematic Internet use. Multiple adaptations of this instrument have led to versions in different languages (e.g., Arabic and French), and different numbers of items (e.g., from 5 to 16 items instead of the original 14). However, to date, the CIUS has never been simultaneously compared and validated in several languages and different versions. Consequently, the present study tested the psychometric properties of four CIUS versions (i.e., CIUS-14, CIUS-9, CIUS-7, and CIUS-5) across eight languages (i.e., Germ…
Computer game as a tool for training the identification of phonemic length.
2013
Computer-assisted training of Finnish phonemic length was conducted with 7-year-old Russian-speaking second-language learners of Finnish. Phonemic length plays a different role in these two languages. The training included game activities with two- and three-syllable word and pseudo-word minimal pairs with prototypical vowel durations. The lowest accuracy scores were recorded for two-syllable words. Accuracy scores were higher for the minimal pairs with larger rather than smaller differences in duration. Accuracy scores were lower for long duration than for short duration. The ability to identify quantity degree was generalized to stimuli used in the identification test in two of the childr…
Subjective impressions do not mirror online reading effort: concurrent EEG-eyetracking evidence from the reading of books and digital media
2013
In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movemen…
What is the validity of the sorting task for describing beers? A study using trained and untrained assessors
2008
In the sensory evaluation literature, it has been suggested that sorting tasks followed by a description of the groups of products can be used by consumers to describe products, but a closer look at this literature suggests that this claim needs to be evaluated. In this paper, we proposed to examine the validity of the sorting task to describe products by trained and untrained assessors. The experiment reported here consisted in two parts. In a first part, participants sorted nine commercial beers and then described each group with their own words or with a list of terms. In a second part, participants were asked to match each beer with one of their own sets of descriptors. The matching tas…
Integrating Natural Language Processing (NLP) with existing library framework in enhancing level of users' satisfaction
2022
Introduction: Libraries are the storehouse of information instilling knowledge into human minds. The easy availability of information from online sources has barred users from visiting the library physically. To keep the users intact within the physical confines of a library, there is a need for libraries to evolve through the implementation of state-of-the-art techniques. Purpose– The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical framework and conceptual background for applying natural language processing (NLP) in library and information science (LIS) to improve library services and related research. This study also aims to identify the LIS areas where NLP can use and implement …
Back to “Reasoning”
2016
Is rigor always strictly related to precision and accuracy? This is a fundamental question in the realm of Fuzzy Logic; the first instinct would be to answer in the positive, but the question is much more complex than it appears, as true rigor is obtained also by a careful examination of the context, and limiting to a mechanical transfer of techniques, procedures and conceptual attitudes from one domain to another, such as from the pure engineering feats or the ones of mathematical logic to the study of human reasoning, does not guarantee optimal results. Starting from this question, we discuss some implications of going back to the very concept of reasoning as it is used in natural languag…
Scatter Search and Local NLP Solvers: A Multistart Framework for Global Optimization
2007
The algorithm described here, called OptQuest/NLP or OQNLP, is a heuristic designed to find global optima for pure and mixed integer nonlinear problems with many constraints and variables, where all problem functions are differentiable with respect to the continuous variables. It uses OptQuest, a commercial implementation of scatter search developed by OptTek Systems, Inc., to provide starting points for any gradient-based local solver for nonlinear programming (NLP) problems. This solver seeks a local solution from a subset of these points, holding discrete variables fixed. The procedure is motivated by our desire to combine the superior accuracy and feasibility-seeking behavior of gradie…